The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned that no fewer than 10.5m people in the Sahel region of Africa are at risk of hunger in the coming months.
A so-called green famine which is when stores of food have been used up in winter and spring, but the next harvest is not yet ripe, is being exacerbated through conflicts and the associated waves of refugees, according to the ICRC.
Africa Today News, New York reports that at least 2 million are currently displaced in the West African countries of Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mauritania.
The situation is most precarious in Burkina Faso, where 1.8 million people, a tenth of the country’s population, have been forced to flee their homes.
It is true that the country is regularly the site of Islamist terror attacks.
Humanitarian organizations often struggle to reach those most in need.
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The Sahel region in general is particularly affected by climate change, with one of the worst droughts in decades decimating crop yields.
‘In some places in Burkina Faso, people wait in line for 72 hours to access boreholes.’
Their lives are completely revolving around reaching water.
Africa Today News, New York understands that should the situation deteriorate further, we are facing the real possibility of people and animals dying of thirst,” said ICRC Africa Director Patrick Youssef.
Meanwhile, no fewer than seven soldiers and four back-up troops have been killed in two ambushes in Burkina Faso’s troubled north, the army have revealed.
The first attack near the town of Solle last Thursday led to the deaths of two soldiers and four civilian volunteers helping the army while five paramilitary troops perished in another raid the same day at Ouanobe, the army said in a statement received Friday.
The ambushes were staged by ‘terrorists,’ according to the army, using a term to signify jihadist groups active in Burkina Faso’s north.
Nine people were wounded, it said, adding that the bodies of some 20 attackers had been found during clean-up operations.